The present invention relates to a refrigerator door mounted portable water dispenser removably mounted to the inner liner of the refrigerator door and accessible for dispensing water when the door is open.
Modern day refrigerators typically include door mounted modules, such as bins, drawers, trays or shelves used to store numerous items which are handy to a user. In the past several years a number of schemes or assemblies have been introduced to provide greater flexibility by enabling the user to selectively mount different modules at numerous locations on the inner liner of the door, particularly on the fresh food compartment door. Usually, the portable mounting involves ribs, recesses, apertures or bosses mounted along opposing side support walls of the door liner and corresponding mating or anchoring supports on the drawers or bins.
Examples of refrigerator door module mounting assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,299 issued Sep. 13, 1994 to Werkmeister et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,558 issued Nov. 30, 1965 to Olsson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,624 issued Nov. 11, 1997 to Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,502 issued Jan. 4, 1996 to Roberts; U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,521 issued Aug. 8, 1972 to Kesling; U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,822 issued Apr. 30, 1974 to Amore; U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,010 issued Aug. 22, 1989 to Jeziorowski; U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,544 issued Mar. 13, 1990 to Lau; U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,305 issued Apr. 2, 1991 to Montuoro et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,398 issued Aug. 27, 1991 to Lau et al.; Re. Pat. No. 34,377 reissued Sep. 14, 1993 to Wilkins et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,366 issued Jun. 21, 1994 to Revlett et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,717 issued Jul. 13, 1993 to Hoffman; U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,455 issued Dec. 6, 1994 to Sedovic et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,924 issued Dec. 27, 1994 to Pohl et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,029 issued Oct. 22, 1996 to Haenisch et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,146 issued May 15, 2001 to Dang.
While door shelves and bins are utilized to support many items such as a water jug resting in or on the shelf, refrigerators having a water dispensing feature require a water dispenser incorporated with the door that typically extends through the door providing access to a user from the outer panel of a closed refrigerator door. These through the door mounted water dispensers typically involve placing a water line into the door and connecting the water line with a faucet or valve actuated by a lever accessible to a user from outside the door. The costs associated with the plumbing connections and door construction for a through the door mounted water dispenser are much higher than simply buying a water jug and placing it onto a shelf in the refrigerator.
Portable water dispensers or jugs have been filled with water and placed on a shelf within the refrigerator fresh food compartment or, for much smaller jugs, on a door shelf. The jugs used on the door shelf or bin are much smaller due to the space requirements of the door shelf and non-tipping requirements of the jug placed on the door shelf. However, due to the weight of a filled water jug located on the door shelf, care must be taken when closing the door in order not to upset the jug and cause spillage. For larger volume water jugs, they must be placed on a shelf within the refrigerator cabinet. Some of these jugs include a filter for removing un-wanted chemicals from the water poured into the jug. However, jugs placed on a shelf in the refrigerator cabinet typically occupy a considerable amount of space that could be otherwise used for food storage and are heavy to load onto the shelf.
There is a need for a water dispenser that does not require through the door plumbing connections, has a relative large volume, is portable, and is adapted for secure removable mounting to the refrigerator door thereby being less prone to spillage and freeing up space within the fresh food compartment for storage of other food items.
The present invention relates to a refrigerator door mounted water dispensing apparatus comprising a water dispensing module portably mounted relative to the inner liner of a refrigerator door. The refrigerator door has an outer shell and an inner liner. The inner liner has at least two spaced apart liner side walls and a rear liner wall extending between the liner side walls that defines a liner recess. The liner side walls have aligned and vertically spaced module supports. The water dispensing module is at least partially receivable within the liner recess and has a reservoir defined by a front wall portion, opposing side wall portions, a rear wall portion and a bottom wall portion. Each of the reservoir side wall portions has at least one anchoring support for releasably mating with the module supports of the liner side walls to mount the water dispensing module on the refrigerator door with the reservoir rear wall portion adjacent the liner rear wall and the reservoir side wall portions adjacent the corresponding liner side walls. The reservoir front wall portion extends across the refrigerator door between the liner side walls. The water dispensing module further has a spigot that is mounted to the reservoir front wall portion adjacent the reservoir bottom wall portion to permit for the dispensing of the water from the reservoir when the refrigerator door is open.
The releasable mating of the water dispensing module with the liner permits for the water dispenser to be releasably mounted directly to a refrigerator door. Further, the spigot permits for water to be dispensed from the reservoir when the door is opened. Since the water dispensing module is an independent unit mounted to the inside door liner, there is no requirement for plumbing a water line in the door and for the spigot to be accessible from outside the refrigerator door as in a through the door dispenser. Further, the reservoir is readily accessibly when the door of the refrigerator is open hence the water contained within the reservoir will provide a supply of chilled water for a user.
In a preferred construction, the refrigerator liner side walls each have has a series of liner module supports vertically spaced along each of the liner side walls which allow for the water dispensing module to be inserted vertically relative to the refrigerator door. As a result, the water dispensing module may be located at a desired height allowing it to be readily filled while still mounted on the refrigerator door or to be easily removed from the refrigerator door for filling at a remote location.
Preferably, the front wall portion of the reservoir has a recess located adjacent to the reservoir bottom wall into which the spigot is mounted substantially rearwardly of the front wall. This rearward mounting of the spigot relative to the front wall portion prevents the spigot from coming into contact with other food articles within the food chamber when the door is closed. Further, there is less chance of a user catching accidentally touching the spigot when accessing food articles within the fresh food compartment. The spigot further comprises a stem that is mounted through the reservoir front wall portion, a valve and a lever for opening and closing the valve. The majority of the spigot is located rearwardly of the front wall portion and only a portion of the lever projects forward of the front wall portion to allow it to be accessed readily by a user for dispensing fluids. Since the spigot is located adjacent the bottom front wall, when the lever is activated, the valve opens and water is dispensed by gravity from the reservoir through the stem of the spigot and drops from the spigot into a cup or other collecting vessel utilized by a user.
To facilitate the portability of the present invention, each of the reservoir side wall portions has a recessed handle located in a leading side wall portion that extends forward of the corresponding liner side wall. The recessed handle projects back into the reservoir and permits the user to insert her fingers into the handle portions and allow her thumbs to wrap around the reservoir front wall portion to permit the user to readily mount or remove the water dispenser from the refrigerator door when the door is in an open position. Additionally, the construction of the recessed handle portions also provides for a support shoulder where each handle portion projects into the reservoir. The shoulders are preferably relatively flat surfaces that extend along a horizontal plane inward from the opposite reservoir side wall portions. The shoulders are adapted to support a fill chamber mounted into an upper portion of the reservoir. The fill chamber preferably carries a filter and provides an upper chamber in which water is initially contained. The water passes through the filter attached between the fill chamber and the reservoir and the filtered water is held by the lower or main portion of the reservoir. It should be understood that the user may fill the fill chamber up and as water filters into the lower chamber may then continue to fill the fill chamber so that the entire reservoir and fill chamber is completely filled with water. When the user then dispenses water from the spigot, additional amounts of water located in the fill chamber passes through the filter by gravity into the lower reservoir. Consequently, the volume of filtered water supplied by the water dispensing module is relatively large when compared to jugs placed in the door shelves or trays.
The water dispensing module preferably further includes a lid that fits over the fill chamber and closes off the fill chamber. The lid preferably has a rear top wall raised platform portion and a forward platform portion that is lower than the rear platform portion. In other words, the rear platform portion which is adjacent the rear liner wall is raised relative to the forward portion. The forward portion preferably further includes a cap that closes an access opening. The cap may be removed from the forward platform portion to facilitate pouring of water either from a faucet when the module is placed beneath a faucet or from a container when the dispensing module is left mounted within the refrigerator door liner when filled. Any spillage associated with this pouring procedure runs off the rear platform into the forward platform and into the access opening.